women's issues

March 29, 2010

The danger to America comes from within. We are under siege. We are being subjected to a pervasive, vile and yet subtle domestic terrorism on a level unseen (and not readily perceived) in modern times. Perhaps, because we are captives of our value of free speech, free speech (as well as actions and behaviors) is being used as a weapon to incite anarchy in this present time, and specifically, with this President.

Bernard Descamps

Remember Timothy McVeigh and his cohort, Terry Nichols about fifteen years ago ushered in a ferocious domestic terrorism that targeted all Americans, not just one group. While we looked for the usual suspects, the American Pie Brigade struck. And, they continue to strike.

When the Sarah Palin's, Rush Limbaugh's, and the Tea Party types command media attention to increase their notoriety behind the guise of free speech, then we Americans become victims and hostages to our highest ideals essentially aiding and abetting fear mongering, hatred and racism. In that sense, the extremist right-wing, is openly raping American values and integrity.

This type of social unrest is to be expected. The election of the first Black President has effectively served to realign the universe not only for Americans but the world. We are in the fog of America's twenty-first century reconstruction. And, we, you and I are articulating this societal reconstruction. Those that claimed power and domination for so long see the clear shift in the power and control paradigm.

The forces of hell are being released. If ever there was a time to believe in the power of good ... and to be a force for social good, it is now!

What can ordinary citizens do? Fight back. Do not let extremism and fear mongering over take reason and control our country. These strains of hate, anarchy and extremism resemble Nazism, acts of sedition and the prelude to a civil war. Inform yourselves. Speak up. Speak out.

Americans will always believe and uphold free speech. Yet, calls for anarchy, acts of sedition, "Reload," and "kill" demand our collective voice in dismantling of these forms of domestic terrorism. Never has the importance of your voice, your vote and your participation in the future of our country and our children's future been more important.

July 04, 2009

My tradition of continual chanting/blessing/speaking to the creative force whoever and whatever that may be is important to my spirit, my creativity and my holistic purpose. I strive to see myself connected to everything.

On New Years Day, I bless my home. I bless all the windows, every room, and all doors and thank 'them' for providing us safety, refuge and fulfilling their purpose in our lives. I bless the sideway leading to our front door. I offer the blessings to create a safe and comfortable haven for my family and all who enter our home.

"Everything is connected ... no one thing can change by itself." Paul Hawken

June 28, 2009

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when their right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

March 07, 2009

Update: I am back from 3 months in the picture above! A tropical island in the Marshal Islands. Missed all of the Cleveland and Northeast winter weather. As a matter of fact, I took this picture at Emon beach.

JOIN ME! Come and discover ... you, the familiar unknown.

As a faculty member of the prestigious

OMEGA Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York,

I am conducting a safe and sacrosanct workshop/exploration/discovery

August 28-30 2009,

entitled:

NOTES FROM THE MOTHERSHIP The Self I Think I Am

Course 4102-663

Short COURSE description:

"How often does it feel as if we are waiting in the noise of our culture for a deeper recognizance, meaning, and valuation of ourself?

Yet, while our community stands ready to define, confine, and control us as women, mothers, men, fathers, and significant others, we can learn to embrace the option of seeing ourself naked, stripped of social roles and obligations to reveal the reflection of our true Self. This workshop can help us get there.

Inspired by the comedian Adrienne Zurub and her remarkable book, Notes From the Mothership: The Naked Invisibles, we get to know the elusive "me" within each of us, the Self that is buried beneath the many layers and needs of others."

Since its founding in 1977, Omega has been a pioneer in offering personal growth retreats andwellness retreats that focus on the mind, body, and spirit. We do this by exploring, teaching, and embracing new ideas.

Omega's Rhinebeck, New York campus is a peaceful oasis in a hurried world, a healing center where you can relax, rejuvenate, and feel at home in the midst of nature's bounty and a community of warm, caring people. The beauty of our gardens, lake, and wooded trails, the friendly staff, the wonderful food, and the facilities at our Wellness Center, all support what people like you come to Omega to learn, helping you tap into the riches deep within all parts of yourself-body, mind, and spirit.

Omega is indeed a place where you can find within yourself the courage to become a happier, healthier, and more spirited person. This is what Omega's personal growth retreats andwellness retreats offer anyone who comes here. Our food (mostly vegetarian) served in our friendly dining all is excellent, the light meals and desserts in our cafe are awesome, our bookstore is superb, our country lanes are beautiful for walking and jogging, and our tennis and basketball courts are always open.

Omega's lakeside campus is set on 195 acres of rolling hills and woodlands in the Hudson River Valley, just two hours north of New York City. The Hudson Valley is rich in history, cultural vitality, and natural beauty-a colorful mosaic of forests, farmlands, lovely old towns, and the mighty Hudson River.

October 28, 2008

My most recent book, REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS published September 2008 by Kaplan Publishing was reviewed by The New York Times. An essay from my book,Notes From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles is one of two dozen provocative essays.

"In “Reflections on Doctors,” they have

produced something quite extraordinary in recent medical writings: a

compilation of 19 brief essays musing on the current relationship between the

species."--Abigail Zuber, MD, Nurses Speak Out, About Doctors, The New York Times

As REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS' editor Terry Ratner, RN,MFA says, "The nurses of this anthology represent a spectrum of voices and perspectives, reflecting upon their work alongside physicians. The majority of these nurses have witnessed revolutionary changes in the nurse-physician relationship over time. They are our messengers, our heroes and our scribes."

The intimate and at times shocking stories in REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS abound with the honesty of each writer's respect of and concern for the nursing profession, and the care that patients receive from doctors and fellow nurses alike. For example, in her fascinating essay, A Truth about Cats and Dogs, Adrienne Zurub, RN, MA, CNOR says of the competitive environment within the cardiothoracic operating rooms where she has worked, "Arrogance, entitlement, outstanding talents (nurses and surgeons), and palpable confidence dominate the entire operating room suites. A nurse pushes herself or himself through this encompassing fog of testosterone. I say testosterone because the surgeons, the ones who are in charge, are all male. To work in this environment, one has to have the personality and the chutzpah--the balls--to think quickly and react perfectly. Weakness or hesitation is normally not considered an option."

Many of the essays in REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS provide readers with clear-cut explanations of various medical terminologies, interesting history of the nursing profession and glimpses into its future. The diversity of all the essays is appealing to both new and seasoned nurses, as well as to someone simply interested in understanding the importance and ever-changing relationship between nurses and phyicians. Further topping off this collection of engaging essays is a reader's guide designed to, says Ratner, "stimulate meetings of the minds and begin crucial conversations in hopes of understanding the nurse-physician relationship."

10 Blog Posts You Must Read Before You Go Into a Voting Booth in November

Where can you get a real, unvarnished perspective on our healthcare system, and fast?

The 10 Blog Posts—A Pre-November 4 Reading List

Warning: The following posts are innovative, unflinchingly realistic and even outrageous. Read them as if your life depended upon it. Bookmark or email them to a friend. Herein lies grassroots politics, real dialog and idea exchange too easily buried under our current hollow Healthcare rhetoric:

CLEVELAND'S OWN: 6. 9 months to birthing my bestseller…, posted by Adrienne Zurubin September 2008. Here is a slightly outrageous and totally irreverent article that rolls together current healthcare reform and the nursing crisis.

Nurses Speak Out, About Doctors

In our transparency-seeking, report-card-issuing, memoir-happy climate, not much about medicine goes unexamined these days. One exception, oddly, is an aspect that used to be at the center of attention: the ever-titillating relationship between doctors and nurses.

From Cherry Ames to Dr. Kildare, the folks in the stiff, white uniforms once waltzed around providing vicarious fun for all. A few serious academic analyses from those days confirmed the intensely stereotypic sexual gamesmanship and complicated power plays underlying even trivial doctor/nurse interactions.

Now, of course, all that has changed, with nursing established as a powerful and educated profession, with gender stereotypes erased, salary disparities shrinking and job descriptions overlapping.

But has it really changed? Do we know for sure? In theory, doctors and nurses are now heading for a happy paradise of equality, collaboration and mutual respect. Human nature being what it is, though, one wonders if we are not first condemned to weather a Reconstruction-type era of confusion and ongoing mutual abuse, as all parties struggle to regain their footing.

In the meantime, not many bulletins are coming in from the field. You can bet that no doctor out there is planning to publish a manuscript entitled “Reflections on Nurses” any time soon. I am assuming my colleagues concur that such a project would be best left for retirement incommunicado somewhere on a distant Pacific atoll, where the mailman never calls.

...continued at the NYT link.

And,

ISBN: 978-0-9792863-0-8

Available on http://amazon.com

Reviews for 'Notes':

"Unique, Unconventional, and unorthodox."

"May I say how much I admire you! I have been a nurse for 16 years, and in that time was also married to a doc....ACK! What I learned from 'behind the scenes' was simply amazing. I write a blog about my life in chronic pain. I also am working on my Memoir, which revolves around my life events. I find I must be very careful if I write a post about a 'work day'. I can't imagine what you have been through just for being courageous and honest. The medical world has always enticed me, yet if I knew now..... " Shauna

" I read your book and feel like we're friends. I might have been in the OR with you. I spent some months at CCF when I was a pharmacy student. I stood on a stool and observed a CABG. I am from Cleveland, although I'm from the West Side.Your book makes me want to take myself less seriously and figure out how/when I lost my creativity. I am an oncology pharmacist. But I don't want that to define me. I have artistic interests which I never make time for. I'm only 30 but I am much older. I'm hosting a book club and suggested your book after hearing you on NPR. I'm so glad I did." --Jenni Baltimore, MD

“I have the upmost respect for this nurse having the courage to speak out. I am also a nurse at the "mothership" and people have no idea how the nursing staff is treated. There is a constant "nursing shortage." As a nurse, we are viewed as the "pee-ons" We are the front runners who do the majority or patient care and we are undermined, unappreciated, disrespected and overworked. I give this nurse much respect, as there are MANY nurses who are feeling the same way. Many don't have the courage to speak out due to the Clinics strong influences and reputation. They are an amazing place to receive medical care. Yet how much more effective would the health care process flow if there was less animosity and a greater respect among ALL hospital staff?
Each member of the health care team is an important piece. In a perfect world...the Clinic would realize that. Maybe this will open there eyes.
I wish this nurse all the best of luck. You go girl!” --adgrlrccc

“Your honesty is unbelievable. Your writings have caused me to view my life, my career and my person in a whole new way. Writing ‘Notes’ took courage.” --BG,RN

“I just want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for taking a stand. We experienced nurses out here are dying!! You GO GIRL! God Bless You, Adrienne!! I have never met you Adrienne, but I am so proud of you. I will be praying for you daily. I wish you could come down here and sit on my porch and drink some sweet tea.” --Rhonda, South Carolina

October 18, 2008

I have been given the honor of being chosen as one of 10 Blog Poststo read before the November 4th election by the author of the informative Online Nursing Degrees.org site. See the press below:

9 months to birthing my bestseller…,"posted by Adrienne Zurub in September 2008. Here is a slightly outrageous and totally irreverent article that rolls together current healthcare reform and the nursing crisis."

Blast Through the Obama & McCain Healthcare “Policy” B.S.

10 Blog Posts You Must Read Before You Go Into a Voting Booth in November

Where can you get a real, unvarnished perspective on our healthcare system, and fast?

Further down in this article you’ll find links to 10 blog-posts you must read before you go into a voting booth next month. I’ll warn you: these are bloggers without fear, unlike the candidates. They are not politicians and the Oval Office is not at stake. But first, let’s blast through some of the b.s. that both Obama and McCain have dished out.

The 10 Blog Posts—A Pre-November 4 Reading List

Warning: The following posts are innovative, unflinchingly realistic and even outrageous. Read them as if your life depended upon it. Bookmark or email them to a friend. Herein lies grassroots politics, real dialog and idea exchange too easily buried under our current hollow Healthcare rhetoric

Anyone who has been a patient or visitor to a hospital knows that the long-tine image of nurses as helpful ladies in white who administer IV's and wake patients every four hours to take their temperature, is not the role of modern-day nurses. Coming from varied educational paths and scopes of practice that place them side-by-side with doctors, nurses are no longer the "obedient handmaidens" to doctors that they once were perceived to be. If they disagree with doctors' orders, nurses today can and do refuse them. The relationship and power dynamic between nurses and doctors has evolved with nurses now trained to ask questions and seek answers.

Through nearly two dozen provocative essays REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS: Nurses' Stories about Physicians and Surgeons (Kaplan Publishing; September 2008; $14.95 Paperbaack/$16.95 Canada), readers are taken behind the closed doors of the OR, the rapid pace of the ER and to many other venues where medical situations are exceedingly intense, and the integrity of the intertwined relationship between nurses and doctors is consistently challenged.

As REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS' editor Terry Ratner, RN,MFA says, "The nurses of this anthology represent a spectrum of voices and perspectives, reflecting upon their work alongside physicians. The majority of these nurses have witnessed revolutionary changes in the nurse-physician relationship over time. They are our messengers, our heroes and our scribes."

The intimate and at times shocking stories in REFLECTIONS ON DOCTORS abound with the honesty of each writer's respect of and conern for the nursing profession, and the care that patients receive from doctors and fellow nurses alike. For example, in her fascinating essay, A Truth about Cats and Dogs, Adrienne Zurub, RN, MA, CNOR says of the competitive environment within the cardiothoracic operating rooms where she has worked, "Arrogance, entitlement, outstanding talents (nurses and doctors), and palpable confidence dominate the entire operating room suites. A nurse pushes herself or himself through this encompassing fog of testosterone. I say testosterone because the surgeons, the ones who are in charge, are all male. To work in this environment, one has to have the personality and the chutzpah--the balls--to think quickly and react perfectly. Weakness or hesitation is normally not considered an option."

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Terry Ratner is a registered nurse, freelance writer and creative writing instructor. Her nursing career has spanned more than 17 years at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, a level-one trauma hospital in Phoenix. She has written for many publications including NurseWeek, Nursing Spectrum, and John Hopkins Nursing.

October 16, 2008

The October 13, 2008 issue of Newsweek (with Sarah Palin's BIG FACE on the cover) has an advertisement page entitled, "A Conversation with Nursing Expert Rebecca M. Patton." This nursing "expert" is the president of the American Nurses Association (ANA) which claims to represent 2.9 million registered nurses (is that 2.9 million with or without the steady exodus?).

Ms. Patton answered a number of questions relative to nursing. Her answer to the question"Why is there a shortage of nurses?"follows:

Her Answer:

"Part of the reason there is a shortage is we now have this huge group of baby boomer - age nurses who are retiring. But I think the work environment is the biggest reason for this shortage. Nursing is a physically demanding job. The average staff nurse, in an eight-hour shift, moves 1.8 tons. That's a lot of weight to move around. What's frustrating is that there are solutions to this problem- portable lifts, for example,have existed for years, yet hospitals here in the United States have not purchased them. Think about it this way: When you go to Home Depot, you don't see a worker picking up a 100-pound bag of concrete. The store uses equipment to do that. Yet nurses, by themselves, move 100-pound patients all the time."

For Ms. Patton, as the president of the American Nurses Association (ANA) to have a national audience (Newsweek) and then state that the nursing shortage is due in part to weight lifting demands is irresponsible, idiotic, and one of the reasons the ANA does not represent me as a registered nurse. This type of head in the sand embarrassing commentary from so-called nursing leaders or “experts” is exactly why nursing is not progressing forward and the practice is being eroded.

Ms.Patton did get part of the reason for the shortage correct ... the work environment. Sexism in some hospital settings, overall gender-pay disparities, verbal and physical abuse by doctors, colleagues and patients, hospitals that have adopted a business model thereby commodifying disease and the patient, Magnet Status hospitals that for lack of a better word - suck, patient safety issues that are ignored in lieu of the hospitals bottom line thereby compromising patient health and in some cases causing the deaths of patients are the real reasons.

The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) a national professional nurses union actively advocates for nurses, the practice and art of nursing, patient rights (ratios, single-payer universal health insurance) and nurse wages. Nurses are the vanguards of patient advocacy. Experienced nurses are exceptional deliverers of health-care and promoters of preventive health-care.

The political and professional activism and advocacy efforts of the NNOC continually progress the practice of nursing and the work environment into the twenty-first century, as well as being staunch champions for patient rights. Equally important is the collective bargaining power of the NNOC in making significant gains against gender pay disparities and their concerted efforts in wage and salary gains for good experienced nurses.

BTW: I was terminated from my position of twenty-six years as a RN on the open heart/heart transplant team at Cleveland Clinic, in January 2008. Why? Because I wrote a book, Notes From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles.

My memoir offered some insider insight into the sometimes feudal working environments of nurses as well as defining and explaining what we as perioperative nurses actually do. My comments are not a diatribe against the Clinic. Rather, I simply wish for this institution to live up fully to it's legacy of forward thinking, and it's promise and potential to be a first-class, twenty-first century working environment for professional nurses.

My book is a collage of my life experiences. My twenty-six years as a open heart/heart transplant surgical nurse form a part of the holistic collage of who and what I am. I did not violate HIPPA nor breach patient confidentiality within my book.

I did chose to speak up (something nurses do not do publicly). In voicing my opinions I may have been perceived by Cleveland Clinic as interfering with their juggernaut branding and marketing efforts in stating some truths within that culture of impunity.

But then, really, what is a patient and nurse advocate to do? (End)

Here is a small sampling of the national response from nurses (and others) that I continually receive:

“I am a Junior in High School. I knew this would be the perfect topic for me to write about. Not only because I think what they did to you was totally unfair, but because I want to be a nurse in the future.” ---High School Journalism student

“I
am so glad that this is getting attention. It is so unfair that you
lost your job (although it shows how powerful your writing is!) There
are a lot of people who support you!” --Cheryl Toman, Professor,
Program Faculty in Women’s Studies, Case Western Reserve University

“I just want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for taking a stand. We experienced nurses out here are dying!! You GO GIRL! God Bless You, Adrienne!! I have never met you Adrienne, but I am so proud of you. I will be praying for you daily. I wish you could come down here and sit on my porch and drink some sweet tea.” --Rhonda, South Carolina

Adrienne,"I read your book and feel like we're friends. I might have been in the OR with you. I spent some months at CCF when I was a pharmacy student. I stood on a stool and observed a CABG. I am from Cleveland, although I'm from the West Side.Your book makes me want to take myself less seriously and figure out how/when I lost my creativity. I am an oncology pharmacist. But I don't want that to define me. I have artistic interests which I never make time for. I'm only 30 but I am much older. I'm hosting a book club and suggested your book after hearing you on NPR. I'm so glad I did." Jenni, Baltimore, MD

Adrienne,"I just finished your book and quite enjoyed it. It was liking drinking a nice cup of coffee from the local coffee shop (one of my favorite things to do!) It made me laugh but also gave me reason to look within myself. It made me realize that working at CCF has shaped me in many more ways than simply my anesthesia practice. I'm glad I'm not the only one who got more out of the world-renowned yet wonderfully dysfunctional institution known as the Cleveland Clinic. If you can make it there you can make it anywhere!!!I wish I could start a nursing school without all the tired, old professors that perpetuate the need to be subservient. We do work in tandem with physicians, pharmacists, social workers, therapists etc... I want to change the way that nurses are taught. But right now my family does come first.” --- Nebraska

Dear Adrienne,"May I say how much I admire you! I have been a nurse for 16 years, and in that time was also married to a doc....ACK! What I learned from 'behind the scenes' was simply amazing. I write a blog about my life in chronic pain. I also am working on my Memoir, which revolves around my life events. I find I must be very careful if I write a post about a 'work day'. I can't imagine what you have been through just for being courageous and honest. The medical world has always enticed me, yet if I knew now....." Shauna :-)

“I have the utmost respect for this nurse having the courage to speak out. Many don’t have the courage to speak out due to the Clinic’s strong influences and reputation. Each member of the health care team is an important piece. You go girl!” --RN

“I think it is crucial for new students to see what they can be when they graduate and you are a wonderful example of this.” --Tiffany Mushrush Mentzer, Ursuline College, Director of Alumnae Relations, Ohio

“I loved your story!!!!!!!! Me and about 10 other nurses here at the University (of Michigan). You have made an impression!!! Thank you for being the voice, having the courage, and the perseverance to get a message of feminine strength out into the universe.” --Michigan

“I wish I had the courage to be as honest as you have been, courageous enough to expose myself so that others might gain some insight into themselves the way you have. You are a very real person that I not only admire, I respect.” --RN

“Your honesty is unbelievable. Your writings have caused me to view my life, my career and my person in a whole new way. Writing ‘Notes’ took courage.” --RN

“I want to congratulate you on your book. It’s wonderful. Beautiful cover and even more beautiful inside. My best to you.” --Judy Carter, Author of ‘The Comedy Bible.’ Los Angeles

I know. I know. Alright already. Oh Snap! ...

Check this out. There is a great schism occurring in nursing (I'm the last to know) as evidenced by this report in the Tuesday, October 14, 2008 online issue of ModernHealthcare.com:

Minnesota nurses group latest to leave ANA

The Minnesota Nurses Association has voted to pull its membership of 20,000 nurses out of the American Nurses Association, following six other states that have recently pulled out of the national professional organization.

Linda Slattengren, president of the Minnesota association, said the decision to pull out of ANA effective Monday was driven by member concerns that the national group was not fully supportive of organized labor. In particular, Minnesota nurses became concerned after ANA did not affiliate with the national labor union, United American Nurses, after a previous agreement expired last June. Minnesota nurses also felt the ANA did not support its legislative priorities, including disagreements on staffing legislation, Slattengren said.

Minnesota is the seventh state nurses group to withdraw membership from the ANA, following California, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the Minnesota association said. “I would say it’s a significant message that ANA with their latest actions is not supportive of labor,” Slattengren said. Although Minnesota nurses support ANA officials’ rights to determine their own priorities, the state group decided to stop paying nearly $1 million in annual membership dues because of its concerns.

Officials with the ANA said the Minnesota association did not follow the ANA rules requiring the state group to take a vote of at least two-thirds of its membership before it could legally withdraw from the national organization. “The American Nurses Association is disappointed to see the Minnesota Nurses Association’s plans to divide the ANA and MNA,” the organization said in a written statement. -- by Joe Carlson

http://www.modernhealthcare.com

Any wonder why the exodus after reading the nursing shortage remarks?!

September 08, 2008

" Nurses are the largest and most respected subculture in health care and we have the power to change. How do we do it? I'm not sure."

Many of you are eagerly and enthusiastically entering nursing careers. I commend your accomplishments. You will receive your first paychecks and beam proudly. The hard work will ... appear to pay off.

Many of you are closing in on completing your nursing degree. I commend and applaud you as well. The Art of Nursing is fascinating as a profession ... on many levels.

Yet, it requires the strengths and constructive activism of all of us to make it better. First for us as practitioners, and for patients. Notice I placed 'us' first. If we do not take care of ourselves (work conditions, great pay, professional advancement) then, truly we cannot fully engage in and be present, in taking care of others.

Many of you reading this will be patients, or have a significant other(s) that is sick. You and your family will essentially become enfolded within a healthcare setting and the healthcare process. You are the one(s) we as nurses care and advocate for. What I have to say concerns you as well ... perhaps more so.

This post is not meant to scare you. This post is meant to empower you, to empower your advocacy efforts, and to inform your future in your nursing practice.

This is the call for action that I responded to on a nursing blog. The quoted statement above is uttered everywhere in various wording on nursing sites, blogs, websites, and in Nurses Lounges, usually by nurses who have worked for five or more years in nursing. Sometimes less. The question and concern are chronic, dating from the early twentieth century until now. The questions are always the same ... how do we make nursing better ... how do we do it? What follows is my response and call to action:

We can talk about this topic and other subjects on websites, blogs, and groups. I see the catharsis in comments and feelings on many nursing sites and blogs. This cathartic effect tends to serve as the action many nurses take to essentially get the anger, frustration, disappointment, etc., off their chests by venting. Then, going back to work and enduring the same old conditions until a new job comes up (new job same BS), or the ability to go part-time, or PRN, or retirement, or the ability to leave the nursing profession altogether.

Until nurses actively support and engage in activities, organizations, individual and collective actions to advocate for nurses and nursing, to advocate for patients, to demand better pay and working conditions,nothing will be changed or accomplished ... other than limitless posts, venting, (some call it whining) and distractions from what really matters ... you, patients and your practice.

We have to promote a single payer form of health insurance that is an extended form of Medicare. Thebusiness/competitive/capitalistic system we have in place is pathetic and inhumane. Particularly, since we are one of the richest countries in the world. If we can spend 10 billion of our tax dollars on Iraq each month, then we can afford to insure every American. If we can pass a law to bail out people who are being foreclosed on their homes (some McMansions) then we as a humane & humanistic society can provide healthcare insurance to all. The United States has a third-world infant mortality rate. Actually, some parts of the third-world may be doing better! The weight of the uninsured, the underinsured, and those without are and will become the burdens of our children and their children!

The arguments against having a single payer system pale in comparison to people losing their homes, their life savings, becoming homeless and living on the streets, and actually dying because insurance companies deny coverage, or will not pay, or the premiums are too high, or they simply will not cover individuals.

Universal healthcare and the single payer system surprisingly have been ongoing dicussions in the healthcare reform zeitgeist since the 1900's.A single payer system of Universal Healthcare is not socialized medicine. Many people erroneously equate universal health care, the single payer system with socialized medicine. If it were socialized medicine the hospitals and clinics would be owned by the government.

"The AMA used it to mean any kind of proposal that involved an increased role for the government in the health care system," he says. "They also used it to mean things in the private system that they didn't like. So, at one point, HMOs were a form of socialized medicine."In terms of government programs, Oberlander says it was used against Medicare in the 1960s, and prenatal care in the 1920s and 1930s. "It really is a term that is very flexible, and because it means nothing precisely, you can define everything by it."

These days, there is one potentially accurate use of the phrase, Oberlander says. It can be used to make the distinction between a so-called single-payer health care system — where the government pays all the health care bills — and a truly government-operated health system, he says.Term's Definition"When you talk about Europe, and you talk about a British system where the hospitals are owned by the government and the doctors are directly employed by the government, then you might say that's socialized medicine," Oberlander says.But that is different from what most single-payer proposals would do. "There, you would essentially have government financing, just like you do with Medicare, but you would continue to have private practicing physicians and private hospitals, Jonathan Oberlander, professor of health policy says."

(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16962482)

With an extended form of Medicare, the single payer system, everyone would be included with no one left out. Many private insurance companies and some hospitals in adopting a business model of healthcare delivery and services, have commodified disease and thus have made the patient (and the patients families) proxies in our present healthcare system.

As nurses, we are part of this collusion upon patients, the public and each other because the public trusts us. As stated above 'nurses are the most trusted healthcare professionals.' Yet, this public trust and integrity is being exploited by hospitals and private insurance companies The public trusts us and right now, I do not know if they really should. We act impotent. We do too much talking and not enough action.

Nurses need to unionize! Doctors have a union, although they do not use the language/word -union. For doctors it is the American Medical Association. The AMA, among it's many strengths, is it's political clout and lobbying connections The AMA does in fact serve the holistic interests of it's membership - the medical profession. If you think doctors do not negotiate or argue about their pay, healthcare coverage, hours, etc, ... think again.

Every medical student/doctor within and upon exiting medical school is encouraged to join and support the AMA. As a matter of fact, most medical students/doctors consider joining the AMA as a rite of passage within their profession.The same drive and enthusiasm to membership within a professional nursing union should be evident in every nursing school. Yet, name one union that you heard of upon graduation ... or even now? Most nurses are groomed and institutionalized to believe that unions are bad and unprofessional (anytime a nurse hears the term unprofessional, it is usually from management in an attempt to control behavior). Nurses hear much of that propaganda from hospitals and those within hospital administration, nursing management, and other nurses that are institutionalized within the hospital system!

Taken from the AEA site: "... founded in 1913, is the labor union that represents more than 45,000 Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans, for its members. Actors' Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions." (http://www.actorsequity.org)

Did you see an actor of note crossing the picket line when the Writer's Guild went on strike in 2007? Many actors, Jay Leno, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Kathy Griffin, Neil Patrick Harris, Calista Flockhart, Sarah Silverman, T.R. Knight, James Denton, Sally Field, and others supported the efforts of their fellow union members! I mentioned some of these actors to demonstrate that we as nurses in our activism efforts ... are not alone! The movie industry is an industry that circles the globe. Hollywood is a union town:

"Even the Teamsters were impressed. “Wow,” said Leo Reed, the gruff secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 399 and director of its motion picture division. “You are acting like a militant union.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/business/media/26strike.html?fta=y).

Nurses need a professional collective bargaining, nurse advocacy, ratio mandate/mandating progressive union that is Nurses Only. We should not be aligned with service workers (janitors, custodians, food service, with the SEIU, etc.) as we do not work within those industries. Can you imagine the AMA or Actor's Equity being part of any other union that does not serve their distinct and unique needs?We require our own professional organization that champions, promotes, negotiates for and educates our membership and the public.

The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) answers that need and collective call. Please, go to the site. Read and empower yourselves about this union, the single payer system, and how you and others can work to change the system ... not just for you, but for the betterment of those who will come after you.The website is http://calnurses.org